Machine for delinting cotton-seed



(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. .T. P. SULLIVAN.

MAGHINE FOR DELINTING GOTTON SEED.

No. 397,448. Patented Feb. 5, 1889.

3%? {3494 MM My PEKERS. Photo-Lithographer, Washington, a. c.

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet T. P. SULLIVAN.

MAGHINE FOR DBLINTING COTTON SEED.

N. PETERS Phoiwliihngraphe Washingim D. Cv

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS P. SULLIVAX, ()F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

MACHINE FOR DELINTING COTTON-rSEED.

iSPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,448, dated February 5, 1889. Application filed March 2, 1888. Serial No. 265,937. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section Be it known that I, THOMAs P. SULLIVAN, of the improved machine, partly in elevation;

of St. Louis, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Maehines'for Delinting (lottoirSeed, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present machine bclon to that class of seed-cleaning machines in which the seed to be cleaned is fed between a revolving brush and a snrroumling ahrading-surface, and thereby denuded of its lint, hulls, &c., which are then discharged from the machine separately from the denuded seed.

The improved machine is composed, substantially, as follows: A brush, preferably of a conical shape, revolves within a perforated concave of corresponding shape. The lintbearing seed is fed into the annular space between the brush-surface and the inner face of the concave, and the lint is separa ted from the seed by reason of the seed being brushed against the concave. A packer is used to work the lint-bearing seed into the annular space, and the lint as it is separat ed from the seed is withdrawn by means of an exhaustair-blast through the openings in the concave to without the concave, leaving the denuded seed within the annular space described to be ult mately discharged at the farther end thereof. Now, as such machines have llcrctofure been made, the air-current referred to has been taken into the annular space at the end thereof and thence outward through the perforations in the concave, and as thus constructed difficulty is experienced by reason of the lint remaining and clogging the action of the machine. To obviate this difficulty is a principal feature of this improvement, which consists in so constructing the machine as to enable the air-current to be drawn from the interim.- of the brush outward and into the annular space, and thence through the concave, by which means the lint is more cl'i'cctuall y prevented from adhering to the brush or to the concave, for not only does'the aircurrent move in a more favorable direction :for stripping the lint from the tufts of the brush, but it is also distributed more evenly throughout the length of the brush.

The most desirable form of the improvement is exhibited in the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which,-

llig. 2, a vertical cross-section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a cross-section of certain parts on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

The same letters of reference denote the same parts.

Arepresents thebrush. It is fastened to the shaft 3, which is held and adapted to be rotated in the bearings l) I) on cross-pieces be tween the uprights C G of the machine. Power is communicated to the shaft by means of the pulley b. The concave I) is preferably of wire-cloth of a mesh, say, one-fourth inch. The concave at its ends is attached to the casing O of the machine. the concave is closed, saving the inlet E, through which the lint-bearing seed is'introduced, as indicated by the arrow 00, Fig. 1, into the space F. From this space, aided by the packer G, which attached to and revolves with the shaft 13, the seed is worked into the annular space H between the brush and the concave. The concave by reason of its irregular outline coacts with the brush to remove the lint from the seed, and by reason of its open-work nature opportunity is afforded for transferring the lint as it is separated from the annular space H into the space I, which surroumls the concave, and is inclosed by the casing C and from the space I the lint is dis.- charged, say, at i. The denuded seed works along the annular space H to the end cl of the concave, whence it is discharged into the passage J, as indicated by the arrows The brush-surface is composed of anysuitable materialsuch as the teeth (b or the tufts a partly of wire and partly of tampico. The teeth, data, are attached to staves (1, which may be removable from the drums which constitute the frame-work of the brush; but a particular feature of the brush is the provision for the movement of the air-current in the direction described-namely, first, into the interior of the brush and then radially ontward through the brush-surface. To this end the end a or both ends a a", of the brush are so constructed as to provide inlets a for the air to enter into the interior a of the brush, and the staves C62 are spaced apart to provide outlets (t through which the air can escape from the interior a.

At the end (1 I desire not to be restricted to any particular mode of introducii'ig the air into and withdrawing it from the interior of the brush, but consider the method shown as being theinost desirable. 'lrheinlets afare sufficiently fine to prevent the passage of either the lint-bearingor the denuded seed, and, if desired, additional meanssuch as the guard K, which is in two parts, one, 7r, attached to the brush, and the other, 7t, to the casi11g(J 1naybe used to prevent the seed from entering;- the brush interior.

L represents an exhausefan attached either directly or indirectly to the casing by means of which the described air-current is induced and the lint removed from the machine. The arrows '31 indicate the direction of the air-currents. The air can enter the outer casing of the machine at any desired point or points. The casing may, therefore, have a door, (1, which may be opened, as shown.

I claim-i 1. The combination of the revolving brush having the air inlets and outlets, as described, the perforated concave, the casing having the inlet for the lint-bearing seed and the outlet for the denuded seed, and the exhaustlan, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the revolving brush having the air inlets and outlets, as described, the casing having the inlets for the lintbearing seed and the air-current and the outlets for the lint and the denuded seed, the packer, the perforated concave, and the exhaust-fan, substantially as described.

\Yitness my hand.

THOS. P. SULLIVAN.

V i tnesses:

C. D. Moonv, .l. H. TIER-NAN. 

